


Past Nova

by AmuletStormfall



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Delinquents, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hachiko Gang, Post-Game(s), TWEWY Bang, TWEWY Bang 2020, Tigre Punks, Time Shenanigans, Tora Ana Yamazaki, also a post-game hachiko gang fic, kind of, mentions of past character death, the Sota and Nao fic I would like to read but had to instead write myself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26865325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmuletStormfall/pseuds/AmuletStormfall
Summary: [ Post Game ] Neku and his new friends find that they’ve been brought back to life, time wound back as if the three weeks had never happened. It’s something that they don’t have time to adjust to, though, as Neku realises that Sota and Nao are still alive, with no guarantee that the two won’t end up back in the UG. Even without a timer on his hand, time is ticking down - but Neku isn’t going to let Sota and Nao disappear without a fight. Not again. [TWEWY Bang 2020]
Relationships: Nao/Sota (TWEWY)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: TWEWY Bang 2020





	1. Urban Nebula

**Author's Note:**

> TWEWY Bang Time!!! 
> 
> Give it up for my amazing Partners Kit and Lico who drew two pieces of wonderful art for this fic:  
> https://twitter.com/HBKit14/status/1313594108456378369  
> https://twitter.com/LicoriceRoll/status/1313605278693294081
> 
> Please also check out all the entries on either https://twitter.com/subasekabang or https://subasekabang.tumblr.com/
> 
> And enjoy reading~

**Past Nova**

"The stars are out tonight!"

Despite this proclamation, if one were to look up at the sky, they would not spot a single shining star. The lights that kept the city alight past sunset maintained disappointment for anyone with enough optimism to have a glimpse. Even if stars were visible in the city, they were a touch far from nighttime; the sun was barely past the horizon.

Nao, however, showed no signs of her spirit being dampened. On the contrary, she seemed invigorated, arms spread wide as if she was about to welcome falling stars into them.

He couldn't see anything in the sky himself but if Nao saw something more up there, Sota sure as hell believed that they were really there.

Even as she stumbled slightly, stretched too far on her tiptoes, with Sota moving in to catch her by her shoulders, he was sure of this.

"You manage to catch one?"

"Like, I tried. But no."

"I'm gonna get you one."

She giggled - wondering aloud if they could really catch one.

"We will, promise."

After all, they had all the time in the world to chase stars.

Didn't they?

**Chapter 01 - Urban Nebula**

Ramen.

Just a while ago, Neku would have carried on eating this dish without a second thought. It was something that he could find anywhere, something he would consume unceremoniously. Yet here he was, finding himself genuinely appreciating how _good_ this bowl of ramen was.

_Nothing can beat a warm bowl of Shoyu._

"Yo, you're trippin'. Tonkotsu's where it's at." Beat said this in between messy slurps of his own.

Neku didn't realise he said that out loud.

"I'm more of a Miso person myself," said Shiki.

He also didn't expect this to be where their conversation went.

"I actually prefer Miso too," Rhyme piped up.

The volume in the small ramen shop increased twofold as Beat noisily argued why exactly Tonkotsu was the best of the best when it came to ramen. Shiki countered with reasonings of her very own, while Rhyme added her thoughts every few pauses.

It all seemed so trivial. So _normal._

As if it hadn't been a week since he had last seen them.

Though, he supposed Beat did tear up when Neku met him and Rhyme by Hachiko a few hours ago. So it wasn't like he was the only one still reeling from the Game. Still, Beat bounced back pretty quick and once Shiki arrived, they were all just happy to be reunited.

Honestly, he welcomed this normalcy but at the same time, it was a new kind of normal for him.

Before this, he hadn't had any friends to actually just sit down and eat together with. Not for a long time. During the Game, once he figured out that eating actually affected his performance in fighting against the Noise, he became pretty careful with what he picked and he was still a lot more...prickly than he was now. He was sure that during his first few days with Shiki, they spent the majority of their time while eating in silence. Well, she did make an attempt to make conversation though he admittedly brushed her off. With Joshua, as Shiki's life was on the line, Neku didn't want to waste his time with too much small talk. Beat inhaled his food, just as he was doing now, so they didn't really stop to chat during meals either.

Now, however, they didn't have to rush off anywhere. No timer burnt upon their skin to urge them onto their feet. They were just four friends eating ramen Shibuya. _Who would've thought?_

"Neku, I know your fave is Shoyu but give it to us straight - Miso or Tonkotsu?" Shiki nudged his arm to get his attention. She must have realised that he was spacing out.

"I think that - " _Uh oh, this looks serious._ Both Shiki and Beat's expressions said that victory hinged on his answer. Rhyme was looking between the two with concern, hand against her mouth as if to prevent herself from intervening. "I think that they're both 'okay'. Shoyu's the best."

Beat groaned while Shiki let out a cheer. "Rhyme agrees with me, so that makes the score for Miso, Tonkatsu and Shoyu to 2-1-1. I win!"

"What exactly do you win?" asked Neku.

"Hmm." Shiki tapped her finger against her lips as she pondered the question. "Aha, I know! You guys can pay for my lunch."

"'That ain't gonna work Shiki, I'm broke."

Shiki peered at his sister instead, who begun to smile sheepishly.

"Neku?" Shiki looked at him expectantly.

"What? Hey, don't look at me! Why should I get dragged into this?"

At that moment, the owner of the shop leaned over the counter and slid across his receipt. It had both his and Shiki's orders on them. _Wha - he can't do that! Can he do that?_

He opened his mouth to object when he spotted that Beat and Rhyme had their receipt, cash already on top of it and passing it back to the owner. _When did that happen?_ Neku suspected the ramen owner had been listening to their conversation and had picked a side.

"Okay, okay, I get it Mr. Doi, I'll pay." He sighed, forking over his cash.

"Oho? So you've heard of me, young man?" He crossed his arms and nodded triumphantly. "As I thought, I've still got it in me to reach young folks like you too. Always appreciate getting new customers who follow the news of good ramen. You kids enjoy the rest of those bowls! Don't take too long, though!" He gave a hearty laugh before rushing off to serve another customer.

Just like that the steam that wafted throughout the restaurant suddenly seemed to contain more heat, the smell becoming sharper to Neku's senses. He pulled at his collar, feeling the stuffiness start to overwhelm him.

"He doesn't remember us, huh?" Shiki said quietly, voicing what all of them were probably thinking.

 _Guess we're going to talk about it, after all._ It would be stranger not to.

"During my second week, we helped him out," Neku murmured. "He _should_ remember us."

"Yo, I just wanna ask so that I know I'm not goin' crazy. The Game _did_ happen, didn't it?" Beat whipped out his phone. "So how come Day 1 is supposed to be... _tomorrow._ "

Beat was right - which was a weird thing in of itself - the date shown on his phone was the date that they had their first day in the Game.

Neku had woken up in the middle of Scramble Crossing last week and he knew that wasn't where he died. When he had rushed home then, though, there was no sign of him having been gone for more than the few hours from when he went out that day. He was left even more confused as to when he checked his phone and saw the date, it was a little over a week before he was to start his first Game. Not only was Shibuya not Erased but he had been brought back to life as if nothing had ever happened. Unlike the first time he woke up on the streets, all his memories, even of the Game, seemed to be intact. Some of which, he thought he could do without.

"It was the same for me," Shiki said after Neku described what happened for him. "I remember everything but...my parents don't remember me...dying."

"Our folks don't remember that either." Beat grit his teeth, "but they do remember me an' Rhyme runnin' outta the house." A familiar look flashed across Beat's face. It was the one that he had every time he talked about Rhyme during their third week.

Before Neku could find any words of comfort, Rhyme said, "I think it makes sense that they don't remember. Otherwise, I don't think the Reapers having double lives would work."

"Really?" asked Shiki.

"I think so. I heard about Def Märch before the Game because they were getting more famous. But wouldn't there be a problem if someone who knew 777 when he was alive saw him? Since he should be dead?"

Neku was sure he didn't find out about Reapers being able to appear and disappear whenever they wanted until Joshua told him, but Rhyme was observant so he wasn't surprised that she caught onto that. She did have a point about that; if you become a Reaper, something probably needed to be done to the memories of people around you. "The Reapers, or at least the Conductor and the Composer, definitely have the power to change memories. I learned that the hard way."

"Right, so if they do if they change up memories of people for Reapers it would make sense that they do it for Players that go back to the RG too," Rhyme reasoned.

It did make sense...but was something about it bothered Neku. "How come we've got back a few weeks, though?" If they could just change memories, why were they also back before the start?

"Mr. H told me and Neku that the Shibuya we saw wasn't real, so maybe it's kind of a reset for us?" Shiki suggested though she didn't sound so sure.

"He did say that. But Joshua, was saying the opposite," Neku recalled.

"I dunno man, how're we sure he wasn' lyin'?"

He couldn't answer Beat. He wasn't sure exactly how many of the things Joshua had said to him during their week together were lies but he definitely knew that there was a lot.

Seeming to notice Neku's change of disposition, Shiki carried on, "So let's say we were reset. Does that mean everything was reset? You guys went on for another two weeks after we won our game, right? Does that mean that everyone who played those games have come back to life?"

"I'm back and I got Erased in the first week." Neku wondered how Rhyme could say that in such a matter-of-fact way. "Maybe that means the other Players that got Erased were also brought back. There weren't any other Players in the third week but Beat and I saw some in the second."

_Other Players in the second week…- wait!_

"There were...there were two Players that I made met - that I made friends with - during the second week." It was the couple, the ones who reached out when he felt himself slipping back to his old self. They were kind and wanted to help other Players, even if it might have put their own reincarnation at risk. "They were Erased when I was Partners with Joshua and I couldn't do anything to help them."

The memory of it, of the Taboo noise attacking the two, of Neku arriving too little too late, flooded through him. What made it worse, though, was that he hadn't thought of them again until now.

A tentative hand rested on his shoulder. He looked at Shiki, to find her eyes searching his. Although it was the first time he had seen this on her real self, her worry was something he recognised.

While Shiki seemed to try and be a calming presence, Beat was anything but.

"Phones, I don't wanna freak you out but," Beat hesitated and Neku had the feeling he _would_ end up freaking out, "when I was a Reapers I was talkin' to Shades."

"The Conductor?"

"Yeah, that dude. I asked him a bunch of questions about tryin' to get Rhyme back and how comin' back to life works an' he gave me half-assed answers for most of 'em but I swear he said that if a Player came back it wouldn't bring back anyone who's supposed to die with 'em."

"Right...which is why you wanted to become Composer to change the rules," Neku recalled.

"And Rhyme's only back 'cause - " He exchanged a look with Shiki, who seemed to understand what Beat was going to get at.

"'Cause we were all there...at the end with The Composer."

'At the end'. It was a moment that had been playing in Neku's mind more times than he could count in the last week.

"We couldn't move Neku, we couldn't stop him from...from shooting you." Shiki's voice started to tremble. "I was scared for you Neku. But he didn't Erase you but you were out cold and he said he would bring us all back. And the next thing I knew I was in the middle of a road. It was a few moments before I died. Except I knew that it was so I didn't get hit by the car in the end."

"Us neither. Beat stopped running away so we didn't get to the middle of the road," said Rhyme. "So it wasn't that our parents didn't remember, it's that we never did die."

So, Joshua kept all of their memories intact then...For Beat, Rhyme and Shiki, he made it as though their deaths never occurred as they had the memories they needed to stop it from happening themselves. In Neku's case, it seemed Joshua had to undo things completely since he was the one who killed him. If it was only the four of them that had their memories from the game, though…

"That could mean that...they - those two - would still die and enter the Game." Neku's blood ran cold at the thought.

 _I don't know for sure._ It was entirely possible that he was simply taking leaps in logic. It wasn't like any of them were certain that they were the only ones that were 'brought back'. Still, if there was even a small chance of it...They didn't win the Game that Neku played that week - there was no way of knowing whether they would win if they were the play again. If he was remembering correctly though, he was sure he saw them earlier than the Tin Pin tournament.

"Shiki - remember when we were helping that Makoto guy give out the red pins? And he managed to give them out a couple? Both of them had blond hair."

"Their outfits matched, yes I remember! That was them? That was our second last day...so then - " Shiki realised it the same time as Neku.

"If time reset then they're still alive _now,"_ said Neku. "And not because they were brought back but because they hadn't died yet in the first place. "So we could - "

"We could stop them from playin' the Game in the first place!" Beat punctuated those words with his hands slamming down on the counter and jumping off his seat.

"Hey, keep it down. Are you kids not done eating?" Ken Doi's voice snapped Neku back to attention. He had completely forgotten that they were in such a public place.

It was a good thing Beat had shouted 'stop them from dying' because that would cause eyebrows to rise from the other customers, no matter how few of them there were. Neku had to admit that it sounded crazy. But it also sounded crazy enough to work, considering everything else he had gone through in his time in the Game.

"We done. C'mon les' go."

"Beat, hold up," Neku said, trying to get his friend to slow down. "I don't even know where to begin with this. We're not sure if they're actually still going to die. And if they are we don't know if there's any chance that we could stop it."

"Yeah, so les' just go ask."

"Ask who?"

Beat grinned.

"The coffee man, who else?"

xxxxx

Neku had thought about it.

There was a small window of consciousness that Neku had, between getting shot and waking up at the crossing. He was sure that during those few seconds, he saw Mr. Hanekoma and Joshua standing side by side. They were both smiling down at him.

The Conductor didn't seem to know who Mr. H was. Joshua had told Neku himself that he was the Composer, otherwise, he wouldn't be here right now. So then, who was Mr. Hanekoma? He told Neku to think of him as a 'guardian' of the Game. Did he mean that he was there to oversee the Game that Neku was playing or the one that Joshua was playing with the Conductor? Was it his job to do both? Was that why he was there at the end?

Questions like these had plagued Neku's mind since the day he got back. The reason that Neku started to let his guard down around Joshua was because Mr. H was helping him out. If Joshua's goal was to cause Shibuya's destruction then Neku could only conclude that Mr. H was helping Joshua do that. _But that can't be it._ If Mr. H was really CAT, he couldn't believe that. His art, his words, they didn't call for the end of the city but the constant renewal and growth of it.

With his doubts on Mr. H it wasn't as if taking a trip to WildKat hadn't crossed his mind. If Mr. H was _actually_ there...he didn't know what he would do. He didn't know if he was ready to hear the truth of it, if Mr. H was going to share it at all.

At least, he wasn't ready to face it alone.

The Shibuya streets weren't exactly appropriate to be running through, not when they couldn't pass through people anymore. Nevertheless, Beat bulldozed his way through the urban crowds, parting them as people jumped aside to get out of his way. His sister tried to keep up with him, always several paces behind, offering a quick 'sorry' to anyone who might want to hear it. Shiki lagged behind slightly, stopping every now and then to catch her breath ("did I mention that I'm also not as athletic in the RG?"). Watching them run, for his sake, for the sake of putting his mind at ease - it made him feel ready.

Their arrival at the cafe's storefront highlighted their reset, as Shiki called it. It stood, as unassumingly simple as it did when Neku first saw it. That was to say, there was none of the damage that Minamimoto had inflicted on it during their last week.

"Mr. H owns this? Funny...I've never noticed this shop before," Shiki said, squinting at it.

Maybe it was by design; if not a lot of people visited because it was a 'simple' shop in Shibuya's plethora of unique offerings, then it gave Mr. H a lot of time to be doing...whatever that he was supposed to be doing in the Game.

Beat had stopped right in front of the door. He looked back at Neku. "Yo, you aight?"

Neku blinked at Beat, taken aback by the sudden question. "Yeah, I'm - "

"We don't have to go in yet," Shiki said, "if you don't want to."

_They noticed, huh?_

"Thanks guys." He really was touched. "But I'm okay, let's go in."

Even as Beat pushed the door open, however, Neku took in a deep breath. He could do this. He followed behind Shiki, feeling the weight of every step forward.

The shop was empty.

Not completely, there were still pastries in the display, ones that looked fairly fresh. There was no sign of anyone being around though. Neku couldn't help but start to feel disappointed. For all his apprehension of coming here, Hanekoma wasn't actually around. Being here when they wanted to see him would be too easy, wouldn't it?

"Seems cosy," said Shiki, if for nothing else but to fill the silence that had set between the four.

Neku pulled out a chair, sinking down into it. Might as well sit down, while he thought of what they could do next. If they were going to help Sota and Nao, they should probably go look for them. It might be possible if he could still scan people, but how was he supposed to find them in a sea of people that he couldn't read? If they did need help, in the first place.

Lost in his thoughts, once again, he only registered that Beat was snooping around when he heard a tearing sound. He sat straight up, recalling that this was where Hanekoma had hidden the note for them, leading their way to the Shibuya River.

"Huh? The hell is this?" Turning to show the others, Beat had his fists clenched around two feathers, grip a tad rough for such delicate-looking items. They gave off a glow as if hinting that they would not be harmed no matter how Beat handled them. "Why'd Coffee Man leave these here?"

"Maybe he's a bird keeper on top of a cafe owner and working as CAT," Neku said, drily. "You sure you didn't find anything else in there?"

"Nah, nothing else in there 'cept dust," Beat confirmed. He came back around the front of the counter, looking to hand the feathers to Neku.

Sighing, Neku got up and took them from Beat, making sure to be gentler with them than he was. While they looked like feathers, they weren't exactly 'normal' looking feathers.

"Did those come from a Noise?" Shiki adjusted her glasses, taking a step close to inspect them properly. They did look like they could have come from one. "Maybe you actually got it Neku, maybe he's some kind of birdkeeper...for those bird-looking Noise. Or just in charge of the Noise in general."

"He did know how to make Noise," said Rhyme, also taking a closer look. "That's how he kept Beat and I in the game, after all."

"Maybe." That was one possibility. It was just a gut feeling but Neku didn't think that was it. Though he didn't think that Hanekoma was a Reaper either. Whoever he was, he must have been pretty important if he knew the Composer so well. _Knew him a lot better than I did._

_Bzzt._

The buzzing came from one of his pockets. It was his phone. He fished it out of his pocket and stared at it.

"What's wrong, Phones?"

The only people who would message him were in this room. Except for the two people that he couldn't seem to find.

Flipping open his phone he clicked on the message, sent from an unknown number.

_I'm devastated that I couldn't make it today. I have a few things to attend to._

_You're probably all at WildKat Cafe right now, aren't you? Predictable._

_I'd rather not come back and find you running around Shibuya aimlessly again so I'll give you a little hint -_

_**Sota Honjo and Nao Akahoshi.** _

_**Entered Shibuya's UG on the 2nd of August.** _

_**6.48pm** _

_I can't provide you a timer in the RG but it's safe to say your time limit is within seven days._

_Have fun saving the tin pin champions._

Neku considered reading it out loud but he wasn't confident in how his tone would come out right now. He passed his phone along, allowing the others to read through it. The message gave Neku so many _more_ questions. Ones that he wouldn't know how to voice properly, even if Joshua had been standing right here with them.

Yet that was as good as a confirmation that he was going to get that he had to do this. No, he didn't have to - he _wanted_ to.

"Look at the time," Shiki said as she passed Neku back his phone.

_6.48pm_

"Seven days, exactly."

And to think, only this morning Neku had been looking forward to spending time with his friends without having a time limit hanging above them.

This time, though, they were alive. Alive along with the rest of Shibuya, brimming with life day in and day out.

"You guys sure you're alright with trying to do this?"

It was a question that didn't need to be asked.

They were with him.

* * *

**A/N:** Tadaa! I was having trouble coming up with what I wanted to write for the Bang but just before we had to submit the idea I _remembered_ this old plot bunny and said ' _yes,_ this is it!'. I struggled to get this moving at first because I kept overthinking details but it was fun once I got going. A super huge thank you to Lico and Kit for choosing my fic to work with - please look out for their artwork, if you haven't seen them already, I'm sure you'll be just as impressed as I am! Hope you enjoyed reading! 

\- **Dina 06/10/2020**


	2. Nuclear Crossing

"Sota, I was wondering, like, how _would_ you catch a star?"

Stars were pretty high up. Nao knew Sota wouldn't _actually_ be able to catch a real star. She totally wanted to hear what he would do, though. Like, he had to at least _try._

He adjusted the white band around his elbow, something Nao knew he did when he was really trying to think hard.

"Maybe I'd shoot something at it. Fireworks or somethin'. Knock 'em right outta the sky." His mouth stretched into a boyish grin.

He looked younger when he did that.

"And then, what?"

"Hm, I dunno. You got any ideas?"

Nao thought about it for a moment.

"You could totes set up a net under it. To catch it when it falls!"

She knew it - they came up with the best things when they did so together.

**Chapter 02 - Nuclear Crossing**

The sensation of waking up, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling was something that Neku should be familiar with. Instead, he found his hands clawing below, searching for concrete and meeting with softness instead. Those were three long, long weeks in the game and he suspected that it would take longer than another three for him to stop expecting to wake up in the middle of the scramble crossing.

It was odd, yesterday when they had parted ways. Neku had met up with his friends for the first time but it was also the first time that he had said goodbye to them. At least, goodbye with a certainty of seeing them again soon.

So soon, that it seemed like no time at all before he had breakfast and his parents left for work. Then here they were, at his doorstep. He was glad that it was a Monday; he didn't know if he could muster up an explanation on how he suddenly had friends that could come over during the summer break. Up until now, he had always gone out, left the house as fast as he could.

He felt a knot tie up in his stomach, as he watched Shiki, Beat and Rhyme take off their shoes. _Is my place clean enough? Did I buy enough snacks? Do they even want to be here?_

Normally with a mission, he wouldn't have to think about these things. This time, though, there was no physical timer on their hands. The day wasn't going to go by without them noticing.

There was no Pact that meant that they _had_ to stick around him.

That was the reason Neku kept thinking of what he would have thought to be really trivial things in the past. He couldn't help it.

_Can I keep the friends that I've made?_

Even with the reassurance that they would help him with this (of course they would, they were good people, better than Neku had been), outside of a life and death situation, would they still want to be around him?

_What the hell is with me?_

Neku didn't understand. He wasn't worried about this yesterday. He didn't think he _could_ be worried about this.

"Do we get to see your room?" Shiki grabbed his attention back with that question.

No, not yet, he thought. "Sure," is what he said instead.

The apartment he and his parents lived in was comfortable enough. Nothing too big, nothing too small. His room was similar in that sense. If Neku were to describe it in one word, he'd say it was 'practical'. He supposed that something that might stand out was his -

"Check out all this CAT merch, yo!" Yeah, that.

Embarrassingly enough, he had convinced his parents to get him a bookstand that, while it did host a humble few textbooks, was mostly taken up by works by CAT. As CAT ventured into many of the creative arts, there was an assortment there from small posters, to keychains, to handcrafted statues. Posters designed by CAT were hung around his bedroom, too.

"Didn't know you were _this_ into CAT, Neku." Shiki sounded surprised.

Neku had to remind herself that she had only been around him when he was missing his memories. "Yeah, I wasn't kidding. I really admire CAT's - Mr. Hanekoma's work."

She took one more look at the displayed items, then a quick look over at the rest of his room. "I like your room," she said, decidedly. "It's very 'you'."

"Yeah, your crib's cool, Phones."

"Home is where the heart is, after all."

"...Thanks."

He could feel his shoulders relax and his mouth curve upwards. It wasn't really that he wanted their approval about his room specifically but...perhaps he was actually more concerned about being liked by them than he realised. Something that he just hadn't clocked in, since he hadn't cared about what others thought of him before.

"I'll be right back." He left, for five minutes, before returning with a plastic bag full of chips, chocolates and other sweets that he had bought from the convenience store yesterday. He plopped them on the floor. "I thought we could eat while coming up with a game-plan." They sometimes mulled over the next steps of a mission over a food break, so there was no reason for this to be any different.

Beat didn't need to be told twice, as the boy dove for the snack bag and snagged the _norishio_ flavoured chips, chucking _konsome_ ones at Rhyme. Neku rolled his eyes, before taking out some rice crackers and passing them along to Shiki. They ended up sitting in a circle with the snacks in the middle.

This was what Neku thought it would be like if he were to have a study session with friends; although they were all there for more serious matters.

"So, from Joshua's message, we have until Sunday before...the deadline." _Before they die._ "If we want to help save them, I think we need to try and find out how they died the first time around."

This _was_ something that Neku had been thinking about.

Since he had gotten home last evening, after they all agreed that they needed to come up with an actual plan, it had been all that was on his mind.

"We know exactly when they died. Aside from the 'how' we're also pretty much clueless on the 'where'. What we do know is that it's within Shibuya. Luckily for us, we're all pretty much experts on running around everywhere in this town."

"You've got that right," Shiki said, only just barely audible. "So, we know they were hanging around at the Scramble on Saturday? Do we just wanna try and find them then?"

Neku shook his head. "I think that would be leaving it a bit late. And I don't think we could follow them all day until Sunday. Even if that was going to be our plan, that's _if_ we can find them on Saturday."

"Ain't it the same thing if we found them sooner? Wouldn't we still be tryna' follow them 'till Sunday?"

"I was...maybe planning to well…" He lowered his voice. "Maybe try and make friends with them."

There was a slight pause, as all three of them stared at him.

He scratched the back of his head. "You know. If we made friends with them, maybe we could just...ask them where they planned to be on Sunday." Still quiet. "We could just exchange numbers and maybe hang with them until the time passes."

Shiki was the first one to break the silence - with a laugh. It wasn't a cruel laugh, however. "You really have changed, haven't you, Neku?" If anything, the tone she had laughed in and had spoken in had a soft quality to it. He might even call it affectionate.

"I guess." He _knew_ that. She didn't have to say it out loud, though.

Beat and Rhyme jumped in to agree with her enthusiastically, all three breaking into big smiles.

Well.

Maybe having it said wasn't too bad.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat, "they were the ones who approached me and Joshua, so I think that it'd probably be easy to make friends with them."

The way Sota and Nao selflessly offered the two their help, even if it might cost them the win - it was something that Neku appreciated all the more after coming back to life.

"That still leaves us the problem of finding them," Rhyme pointed out.

"Right, so I wanted to ask you guys. You did that...people-watching thing a lot, didn't you? Back when we could scan."

"You bet," Beat laughed, "man, remembering some of the things people were thinking cracks me up."

"Speak for yourself, Beat." Shiki sighed. "I swear, I kept scanning people who were either complaining all the time or...well thinking things that probably should have been left unscanned."

Neku was not going to ask Shiki to elaborate on that one. "Did you guys remember picking up on anything that first week? Anything that might be a clue? I think it'd be helpful if we scanned something related to them on the seventh day but obviously, we were all a little preoccupied." As he said that, he gave a little apologetic nod to Rhyme, realising that she wasn't really part of that, of course.

There was another lull, where each of them tried to remember something, anything that might be a clue. He wished he had paid more attention to people that first week. There was no guarantee that they would find anything concrete, but it sure as hell would useful.

"You know, actually." Shiki scrunched up her face. "I think that I scanned some guy...I think he was a detective or something. He was looking for a blond ganguro girl. That would match the description of Nao."

"Dunno 'bout that, Shiki. There are a lotta blond ganguro girls in Shibuya."

"That's true," said Shiki. "'Sides, this guy was looking for a suspected criminal. Doubt it's them since they were helping Neku out."

"I can't say I knew them well enough to say they're not criminals but that's definitely not the feeling I got from them." No, he didn't know them closely but what he did was enough. "I mean, we can't be sure. Either way, it doesn't really give us a clue on how to find them."

Seemed like they would have to go with Plan B.

"In that case, the other thing that I wanted to ask you guys was - do you think you guys can ask around if anyone you know, knows anything about Sota and Nao? I'd do it myself, too, but I don't really have...anyone to ask."

At that, both Shiki and Beat stiffened up. _Hm? That's strange._

"Shiki, do we think you could ask Eri?"

"I - uh, I guess that would be okay." Her eyes were suddenly indiscernible behind her glasses, as she shifted them.

Neku saw Shiki's other hand curl up tightly.

"Hey."

Shiki looked up at him.

"Don't sweat it, we don't have to."

Her expression seemed to harden but Neku didn't want to push. She told him to take his time yesterday if he needed it. He wanted her to feel the same.

"Sorry."

He didn't know what was bothering Shiki - he thought that she had resolved her troubles with Eri but it was beginning to seem like that wasn't the case. He hadn't asked. _I should have asked._ He could sense that now wasn't the appropriate point to do so, though. She'd tell him when she was ready to.

Turning to Beat, he could see that his other friend was equally hesitant to say anything. Neku wondered if Beat had a reason too, why he didn't want to ask anyone. Perhaps...he also didn't have many friends? Neku just assumed that he did have some. When they first met, Beat seemed to want to get along fine. Until Neku showed off some of his old attitude, and Beat stormed off but that was Neku's fault, he could admit to that. He didn't want to push Beat either, but now they were kind of stuck.

"Neku, I think I have some friends I can ask," Rhyme said.

Oh right, Rhyme.

"Thanks but...aren't you a bit...young? I think Nao and Sota are a bit older than us so I don't know if you'd know anyone who would hang around them." He also doubted that with Beat as a brother, she would be hanging around with older kids a lot, if Beat wasn't around others either.

"Yup but I've got a friend - he's a classmate from school. He's not afraid to talk to older people, though he could stand to, I think. He's really into Tin Pin so he just challenges everyone he meets into the game," she explained. "Even adults...including the nice grannies who live around our area."

"Do the grannies play Tin Pin?" Shiki asked.

Neku shot her a look. _Not the time._

She shot one right back at him that said 'I know you were thinking the same thing'.

"Some of them do."

_Huh, you learn something new every day._ "Hold up...Tin Pin." _Don't tell me -_ "This guy's name doesn't happen to be Shooter, does it?"

xxxxx

"DO YOU GUYS PLAY TIN PIN?!" The boy's voice sounded like someone had gotten hold of a tv remote, aimed it at him and turned the volume all the way up to maximum.

Neku debated whether to say yes or no.

"Didn't you say you got pretty good at it, Neku?" Shiki _had_ to open her big mouth

Right, maybe he shouldn't have told her all about it on the way to meet Shooter. It was a bit of walk from his place to Tipsy Tose Hall and they were all asking about how he knew Shooter. He may have...embellished his skill in Tin Pin ever so slightly. Look, he _did_ beat Shooter in their practice round, okay?

"Oh yeah?" There was a glint in his eyes that Neku wasn't quite liking. Shooter moved to adjust the red bandanna around his head. Tugged at his jacket. Tightened the straps on his fingerless gloves. "Then I challenge you to a slam-off!"

_Ah shit_ , Neku thought, _here we go again._

_..._

Only a few minutes later, Neku had been completely humiliated in front of his friends.

"Oh, it's okay, Neku." Shiki patted his shoulder, reassuringly.

"Right on! You weren't bad, but you need to put a little more _POW_ into your attacks, if you know what I mean?"

"Uh yeah, 'more pow'. Gotcha." Was he disappointed? No! Of course, not.

...Fine, maybe a little bit.

"Hah, you suck!"

Neku glared at Beat. "I'm just a little out of practice!"

"Really? We can count it as a warm-up if you'd like, bro? Wanna go again?"

"No, I'm good," Neku said, immediately.

Before Shooter could protest, Rhyme interrupted him. "Good job, Shooter! Nice play." Rhyme and Shooter shared a very light fist-bump.

"Thanks, Rhyme. Gotta get some practise so I don't lose again to you. Can't keep letting my rivals get ahead of me all the time. Just you wait, the next one is gonna come in with a _WHAM._ "

There was so much that Neku wanted to ask after witnessing that exchange but they needed to keep focused on the task at hand.

"Shooter, all sorts of people come through the Stride, don't they?"

"Yeah! I mean, everyone plays Tin Pin!" Shooter said this like it was obvious. "If there are people out there who _don't_ play Tin Pin they _should_ play Tin Pin. I've been trying to get my gramps to play with me but he keeps saying he's busy with his store!"

_Looks like what Rhyme said about him challenging grannies must be true, then. Wonder if Tin Pin has specific categories for senior citizens…_

Looking around the Stride right now, there were quite a few setups for several Tin Pin matches to go on at the same time. While the majority of players did seem to be around Rhyme and Shooter's age-group, he did spot a lot of older kids and adults here too. Looked like anyone could get into Tin Pin.

"You know anyone named Sota Honjo? Or Nao Akahoshi? They're usually together."

Shooter thought for a moment and the longer he took, the more Neku started to believe they hit another dead end.

"Oh wait, is he the guy who wears shades on his head?"

Neku's heart started to race. "Yeah, him!"

"Yeah I know him! He's a bit of a rookie, started coming around here not long ago. He's only a little worse than you though, bro." Neku would _not_ take offence to that. Nope. "Haha, though he totally wanted to take on the tournament next week. I dunno if it's too early for him but you can't gain experience without slamming! Oh hey, you wanna join the tourney?"

"No thanks, I've already done - uh, I mean - I've already got plans."

_That was close._

He avoided his friend's eyes, knowing they were probably all going to hound him for it later.

"Do you know when he's going to be here next?" Neku pushed through, determined to get the information he needed.

"Bro, I wish! I tried to challenge him when I saw him near Miyashita Park. He told me to go home, though. Saw him heading towards the Shibuya river side of the park. Think he hangs there a lot."

It wasn't anything concrete but it was a lead nevertheless.

"Guess that's where we're going then. Thanks Shooter. C'mon guys."

Thinking it best to leave before Shooter could demand another slam-off, Neku tilted his head towards the exit and began walking towards it. Rhyme and Shiki started heading out, but Beat did not move.

_That's weird._ He was usually first out the door.

His back was towards Neku and he couldn't see Beat's expression but he suspected that it was similar to the one he had on back at Neku's place.

"Beat? You coming?"

"Yeah...les' go."

xxxxx

This really _was_ strange.

Beat wasn't saying a word as they made their way to the park. He wouldn't stop talking when they were going to the Stride but now? Nothing. He was also lagging behind even Shiki.

If Neku noticed it and Shiki noticed it, judging by the way she kept looking behind her and then back to Neku, then Rhyme _must_ have noticed it. She didn't give any indication of it, though. Was that on purpose?

This was another thing that Neku had to ask about. Later, after they had found Sota and Nao.

They didn't exactly run to the park but it hadn't been a gentle walk either. Finding his breathing to be slightly laboured he gestured for them to stop by the entrance of the park. He looked around the area. It was one of Shibuya's more run-down locations.

While it wasn't such a large area, they still needed somewhere to begin. He asked if they should split up to cover more ground. He would need to give a bit more detail, he suspected. Since Shiki and Rhyme agreed to it fairly quickly he started to give them a bit more description of what they looked like.

"Like I said to Shooter, Sota had shades. I don't know if he'd be wearing the same thing but he also had ripped jeans. Some kind of black vest. Think he had a watch and a few necklaces. White armband. Think he had some piercings too." He actually surprised himself with how much detail he remembered. Briefly, he wondered if having memory loss once meant that your memory was better once you got them back. Another question to ask, someday.

"Alright, so should we split up into two groups?" Shiki nodded at him. "Neku and I one way and you two in another?"

"Wait, Shiki."

Beat had finally spoken up.

"It ain't...it ain't a good idea to split up."

"Hm? This place is a little shady but it isn't that bad." As far as Neku knew, at least. "Beat?"

"...I think I know where they're at."

"You what?"

This time, Beat _did_ start sprinting off. It was all they could do to keep up with him. They were heading deeper into the park and past any area Neku had visited before, or heck even known about. They were heading towards the side, near the Shibuya river as Shooter had mentioned, but down a path leading to the junction to the housing areas.

"Who's there?"

_Oh no._

Beat had led them to the edge of the park, with stairs dipping down from the raised ground. Several people were sat on these steps and they did _not_ look like the friendliest bunch. Or at least, most of them didn't.

"Oh hey! Beat, that you, man?"

Two of them got up.

_Shit._

He had been looking for them. He had wanted to find them.

But -

_Sota, sorry… I can't…_

_Nao! Stay with me! We're finishing this thing together!_

_I'd…love to…but it…doesn't look like I can. Sorry…Sota…_

he found himself staggering backwards.

He would have fallen over if Shiki hadn't jumped to his side to steady him.

"Wow, is your friend, like, okay there?"

Neku wanted to answer on his own but couldn't. He could open his mouth to speak.

_They don't know me._

He knew they wouldn't.

_They're alive._

He was so relieved they were.

_And they...know Beat?_

"Well, well, well. Lookie who showed up here?"

This didn't come from either Sota or Nao but from one of the other people sat on the stairs. He wasn't standing up but somehow his gaze managed to seem as if he was looking down on them.

"Did ya change your mind?"

The man tapped at his white arm-band. All of them were wearing white arm-bands.

"Beat, what's going on?" Neku was suddenly aware that Shiki's grip on him had tightened.

"Yeah, c'mon. What's going on that you had the balls to come back here, huh 'Beat'?"

This time the man did stand up and he towered above them all.

"Or should I still be calling you -

Beat didn't flinch and met this man's gaze head-on.

" - 'Mad Boar'?"

* * *

**A/N:** Tadaa! This was chapter 2 and I thought that this was a fun chapter to write, especially when Shooter got involved. Man, I love writing that kid for some reason haha. Hope you had as much fun reading this :)

**\- Dina 8/10/20**


	3. Casper Star

If a star fell, what would it look like?"

The questions kept on coming from Nao and Sota didn't mind.

"Maybe it would look like you, Nao."

She was always brightening things in his life.

"Like me? No way! They've got to be, like, a lot more sparkly!" She put her hands on her hips. "And I don't, like, really wear sparkles."

"You think?"

Despite not having anything physical on her that 'sparkled', he could see that her eyes were glittering.

"Not sure. But I think I had a dream about a star that fell once." The memory seemed to come by suddenly, almost like a shooting star itself. "It fell out of the sky and landed in the clouds. I tried to pick it up but then I woke up in my room. Then I realised the start was _in_ my room. So I didn't actually wake up. It was another dream!"

Sota paid attention to every single word.

Whatever dreams lay behind her those eyes, he wanted to be a part of them.

**Chapter 03 - Casper Star**

_I don't understand why you're like this. Why can't you be more like your sister?_

When Beat woke up light was streaming into the room and he could hear an alarm blaring by his bedside.

It was a good thing that Rhyme reminded him to put on an alarm because he would have slept through it. That would have sucked since they had things to get to do today. He jumped out of bed, grabbed some clothes off the floor, sniffed it - _smells okay -_ and then changed into them. His room was messier than usual. He would probably get shouted at later but he didn't really give a damn.

He was halfway out of his room when he stopped and looked back. He almost left his skateboard behind. He felt like he should have that with him today.

Rhyme was sitting at the dining table, all dressed up and ready to go.

"Les' go."

After yesterday, he couldn't leave the others waiting for him.

_xxxxx_

"Yeah, c'mon. What's going on that you had the balls to come back here, huh 'Beat'? Or should I still be calling you - 'Mad Boar'?"

Beat didn't have anything to say to Yamazaki. He was here for the other two - he guessed now that their names were Sota and Nao. He hadn't known that those were their other names before this. That wasn't completely true, they probably mentioned it before but he had forgotten.

You couldn't forget Yamazaki, though. No one was allowed to forget that name.

"I'm here to talk to Jo-san and Hoshi. Ain't want nothin' to do with you."

"Some big talk from such a little punk."

Beat was pretty tall himself, for his age but Yamazaki was not only taller but he was also stacked. He could tell, especially with Yamazaki getting right up in his face.

" _Aniki,_ he's, like, just a kid." Hoshi tried to pull him back. He shook her off but he did step back.

"Ain't much fun to square up with Mad Boar when he's got a bunch of twigs with him." Yamazaki flashed his brown eyes towards the others. "Don't let me catch you around this 'side of the park again. If I see you again, you'd better be here to join us or - " he pointed his thumb downwards " - be prepared to be buried here." He brushed back his wild mess of blond hair, so light it was almost white. "Alright, Jo. Hoshi. Enjoy your little chit-chat with these brats."

As the man started to walk down the steps, the others followed him, without a single instruction. That's just the way things worked around here.

"Beat, what the hell was that about?"

He looked at Neku and he seemed angry.

"What?"

Then he realised that Shiki was practically hiding behind Neku. Rhyme, too, had moved closer the older two, grabbing onto Shiki's wrist.

"Sorry," he said immediately. "I didn't wanna come here in the first place. But when you guys said to split up, I panicked, yo. I couldn't let you guys jus' come here on your own." He messed up, _again._ "When I realised we were lookin' for Jo-san and Hoshi, I just...I knew where they were gonna be an' I knew Yamazaki was goin' to be here an' I didn't want him seeing you first."

"Okay? So if we were going to be running in with some shady people, you could've at least warned us," Neku argued.

"Shady? Who's _is_ this kid, Beat?" Jo-san's guard was up.

"No, I didn't mean you Sota, I just meant - "

"And how come you know my name? Pretty rude for a kid, aren't you? How come you were looking for me?" Jo-san wanted answers but Neku wasn't talking back.

"They're my friends and sister, Jo-san," Beat cut in. "They uh…" Guess he had to lie. "I told 'em about you and they wanted to meet you."

"Oh, are you, like, Beat Junior then? You're totally adorbs." Hoshi was probably the only person they met in those last few minutes that wasn't intimidating.

Rhyme dropped her hold on Shiki's wrist and extended her hand out. "I'm Rhyme."

"Oh em gee, Beat and Rhyme? You two've got a twin look going on, aw!"

"Yeah, so it's more like Skulls Junior."

"That's, like, totes precious!" She smiled broadly. "You can call me Nao. Or Nao Nao, for short."

Leave it to Rhyme to get someone to like her within a few words.

"Hmph. Well if Nao likes you, then you guys can call me Sota." That seemed to take the edge off Jo-san slightly. "So whaddya want? We got somewhere to be so we can't hang around. And I know you didn't bring them to where Yamazaki was at if it ain't important."

"Yeah, we - gotta." His mind was drawing a blank of what excuse they were supposed to use to pry info for Sunday out of him. "We gotta talk. I jus' gotta talk to you, aight?"

"...Alright, man. But me an' Nao seriously gotta go somewhere. I've got time tomorrow, so I'll text you later."

They left real quick after that.

"Beat." Neku took Shiki by the arm. "I'm walking Shiki home for now. We'll talk about this tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, man. I get it. I'll see you guys."

_xxxxx_

Beat felt guilty, thinking about how spooked Shiki was. He asked if Rhyme had been scared too but she said it was fine. He still felt bad, though. That was the last kind of situation that he wanted Rhyme to see him in. He was just glad as hell that he never had accepted one of those white bands from Yamazaki…

He felt guiltier when they met up at their spot by Hachiko again and Shiki's first words were all to try and make him feel better. "Sorry for worrying you guys. I think I just freaked out a bit, 'cause...you know I can't exactly use Mr. Mew in a fight in the RG. And those guys definitely wanted to pick a fight."

"Who _were_ they?" Neku asked the question, directed at Beat.

"They're…" He glanced at Rhyme. She didn't know about them yet.

"The Shirotora," Rhyme filled in the words that Beat didn't want to say. "They're a gang."

" _Those_ are The Shirotora?" Shiki covered her mouth. "Oh god, you're right! They were all wearing those white bands around their arms."

"Never heard of 'em," said Neku.

"No offence but you're not exactly up to date on a lot of things, Neku," said Shiki, "but the White Tigers are getting pretty infamous around Shibuya. Especially 'cause of who their leader is rumoured to be. I mean, not rumoured, anymore, I guess since we met him yesterday."

"Yeah, Yamazaki's their leader." Beat was still trying to avoid eye contact with Rhyme, already feeling worse about the whole situation, since she already knew who the gang was.

"It's the talk of the town because he's rumoured to be Tora Ana Yamazaki's brother." The way Shiki said it, it seemed like it was supposed to cause some kinda reaction.

"...And who's that supposed to be?"

"Neku, come on. She's only the designer for Tigre Punks!" She put her hands up in the air. "She's one of my role models!" Shiki cleared her throat. "Anyway, rumour has it that they're siblings because - well, _Shirotora -_ White _Tigers_ \- _Tigre Punks._ And also, statements from people who managed have run-ins with the leader have said there's a resemblance. It's a bit of a publicity crisis for her, 'cause people like the 'punk' look but they don't want to support any _real_ gangs, of course. I mean, I didn't think they were actually related but if they're both Yamazaki...they've gotta be, right?"

Beat could only shrug. "I dunno, really." He really didn't.

"So, how _do_ you know Yamazaki?"

It was gonna come out anyway.

He knew Neku didn't want to force him to say anything. If he really didn't want to say anything he knew he didn't have to. But he had put them in danger by bringing them there, even right after he had promised to himself to make sure Rhyme was kept safe after the Game.

"I met Jo-san and Hoshi first. Phones, I told ya that I didn't really get along with my parents, right? Well, after a while, since I didn't care anymore...I just got into a bad mood. A lot. But I ain't someone who just wants to punch someone when I'm angry. Some punks, though, they don't like the way I look. Say I'm lookin' at them funny. So _they_ start fights."

"And you fought, back?"

"Yeah, man? I wasn't gonna just let 'em treat me like a punchin' bag. I had a big repitation after that." By the way Neku was looking at him, he pronounced something wrong again but he continued, "So more of 'em started coming and I just kept fighting. I dunno when but later I kept hearing people call me the 'Mad Boar'."

He hadn't heard that nickname for a while. The bruises he got from fighting had all healed up by the time he entered the Game, but while talking about it, he could feel the phantom sting of pain on his knuckles.

"An' one day I was fightin' and there were like...ten of 'em, I swear. I was losin'. But I guess Jo-san thought that wasn't fair and he stepped in and helped me out. He doesn't look like it but he's really strong. Hoshi was there too, she helped to patch me up a bit."

"We haven't really actually hung out much but I have their number in 'case I got in trouble again. And Jo-san and Hoshi would always show up. I didn't know that they were with The Shiratora. Until Jo-san told me Yamazaki wanted to meet me. And turns out he wanted me to join them, as 'payment' for takin' up Jo-san and Hoshi's time. I said no, 'course. I might get in fights my I ain't bein' a part of no gang." He wanted to make this absolutely clear to all of them. "Yamazaki ain't happy when people say no, so I've been tryna' stay clear of 'em."

He finished there and took a breath, waiting to hear their reactions.

"Well, Beat." Neku crossed his arms. "I'm surprisingly unsurprised."

"Huh?"

"It just sounds...very like you."

" _Huh?_ "

"As in, I always thought you were a wannabe delinquent. But you're a softie at heart so I knew you couldn't be a _real_ one."

"Bwaaaah!?" A softie?! "I'm no softie - wait, is that a good thing? I ain't no delinquent, either!"

"Ah, I get it." Shiki snapped her fingers. "I bet the other times you got into fights would be something like...if there were older kids ganging on younger kids or something."

"How'd you know that?"

"Or if someone was trying to steal someone's wallet."

" _HUH?_ Were you guys watching me?"

The hell? How did they know all of that?

Then he heard a giggle.

"Yup! That's my big brother." Rhyme addressed him sternly, "but you really shouldn't fight. Two wrongs don't make a right."

Rhyme didn't look disappointed in him. Neither did his friends.

He didn't know the words to describe how relieved he was.

"Hey, Beat, sorry for being really touchy with you yesterday and just now," Neku said. "I just...I just don't like the thought of any of you guys in danger. Especially when we're on a mission to _save_ people."

Yeah, he got that.

"It's cool, Phones."

There was a buzz in his pocket. He flipped open his phone. Jo-san was going to be here in ten minutes. Beat told the others what the message was and they agreed on their plan of action. Hoshi was the friendlier one on first meeting, so they would try to make better friends with her first. Heck, she already liked Rhyme so this was going to be a piece of cake.

"Sup, guys."

Ten minutes later, it was just Sota on his own.

"Why you all starin' at me like that?"

"Where's Nao?" Neku asked.

That seemed to be the wrong question because Jo-san pushed his shades higher up on his head. "I ain't always with her, you know."

"That's a problem," Neku muttered this and Beat was the only one who could hear it.

"Oh, so what's Nao up to, then?" Shiki tried, putting on a cheerful voice.

"Somethin'. What's with all the questions about Nao? You guys need somethin' from her?"

Uh oh, this could be bad, Jo-san got really touchy about Hoshi.

"I thought she was really nice, yesterday," said Rhyme. "Beat wanted us all to go skateboarding and I'm sad that she didn't show up. The more the merrier, ya know?"

"You're right, she _is_ really nice." All of a sudden, Jo-san was all smiles. "Skulls Junior, you've got a great sense for people." He put his hands in his pockets. "Let's go then, where are we heading off to board anyway?"

"Back to Miyashita Park," said Beat. "S'long we don't go over to the other side, it'd be fine."

"Cool, let's go, then."

xxxxx

Beat hung around Miyashita Park a lot. Yeah, he was more likely to get into fights around here but since there were fewer people around, there was a lot more space for Beat to just stretch his legs and skate. Neku had whispered frantically to Beat, asking how exactly were they supposed to get other skateboards. They stopped by the Cosmic Corner shop and Beat asked the Iwata brother if he had any spare boards they could borrow. His Partner seemed shocked that the shopkeeper would just lend them the boards so easily. Beat didn't know what the big deal was, he'd been here tons of times since forever ago and he could always buy stuff just fine?

After that detour, they ended up in the park again.

There weren't exactly any concrete bowls in the park but there were steps and railings that Beat liked to practice on. He warmed up with a few lengths before realising that Neku and Shiki were having some trouble with it. Shiki hadn't exactly come prepared for the activity ( _'no one told me we were going to be skateboarding!')_ and Neku was dressed fine but was struggling.

Neku got two feet onto his borrowed board for about a second before he somehow managed to slip back, sending the board rolling away from him.

Beat ran over to grab the board and help him.

"Phones, you alright?" He pulled Neku up, with ease. He was a bit taken aback by how light Neku was. "What happened to your balance, man?" He was pretty sure Neku had been fine when they were doing Fusions in the UG.

"Thanks, I'm good." Neku tugged the pointed spike of his hair. "And I don't know. Guess I can't move as well in the RG." He started just...staring at Beat.

"Why you lookin' at me like that, Phones?" It made Beat feel a bit jittery when Neku stared him down like that.

"I just figured, maybe you were stupidly strong as a Reaper because you're already stupid strong anyway." Neku tapped at Beat's arm. "I mean look at this, your arm's like twice the size of mine."

"And me too! Is this all muscle from fighting?" Now Shiki started prodding at his arm. "Or do you work out?"

Beat could feel his face flare up from all the sudden attention. Usually, people only crowded around him when they were, y'know, ready for a beat-down. This was an entirely foreign situation for him. "Y-yeah, I've got weights at home."

"Yo, Beat." Jo-san, who had been doing a few up and downs of his own, had come back to them. "Your friends going to skate, or what?"

They both stopped man-handling Beat, which he breathed a sigh of relief to.

"Sota, I was actually wondering if you could give me a few pointers," Neku said. "Beat's not that great of a teacher."

"Say wha -! "

Before he could protest further, Rhyme was shushing him. When did she get here? He swore she was also doing her own thing since she wasn't a novice either.

"You want me to teach you, Phones?" Jo-san sounded a mixture of both surprised and flattered. "Sure, man. Come over here. And you too, Glasses."

The three went off to a little distance away and Jo-san started showing them how to hop on and off their boards. It looked like asking him for help was the thing that finally made him relax around them. He did seem to have a thing for helping people.

Neku said that Jo-san helped him out too during their second week. That was when Beat was still trying to attack Neku, so that must have meant a lot to him. And now Jo-san didn't recognise him. It was the same as with him and Rhyme.

If she wasn't the person she was, Beat probably would have had a lot more trouble trying to get her to be his Partner, especially since she didn't remember he was her brother. She was trusting like that.

He glanced back at Rhyme who was back at practising her small tricks.

She was always the one that was quick on the uptake. Neku had said that he wasn't good at teaching as an excuse, but he really wasn't. Rhyme learnt all these tricks by herself, just from simply watching Beat. Not only did she always work hard but she also had a natural talent for things that he didn't.

' _I don't understand why you're like this. Why can't you be more like your sister?'_

He almost forgot that he dreamt that last night but it suddenly came back to him. His parents hadn't exactly said it outright like that but it was close enough to what they meant.

No need to keep thinking about the dream.

Beat distracted himself by practising some of his more advanced tricks. It had been a while and he was a bit rusty. He had lied to Rhyme when he said that being a pro skater was his dream. But as he kept saying it, it didn't seem like too bad of an idea. His moves were pretty good and he enjoyed it. It was something that let him move around and expend all the extra energy he had; a way better way to do it, too, then getting into fights.

This session, he managed to pull off four out of the ten attempts he made at a Casper flip, so he thought he pretty much had it dialled.

He went to check in on how the others were doing, thinking that it had been a while.

Neku and Shiki looked wiped, they were covered in sweat and he thought he spotted a skinned knee.

"Oh hey, Beat." Neku was panting, only just about propping himself up on his elbows while the rest of him lay on the floor. Shiki had given up entirely with her whole body splayed out.

"No...more…"

"Bwahaha, you guys are a mess!" He was laughing but he was impressed that they stuck to it for that long. Jo-san was actually a pretty good skater too.

"Need...water…" Shiki looked up at Beat from the ground. "Did we bring any?"

"Nope, totally forgot." He rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly.

"Don't sweat, we'll get some for you," Jo-san assured them.

"We're already sweating, that's the whole problem," Neku mumbled.

"Hey Junior, stay with these two. Me an' your bro are gonna get some drinks."

"Haha, sit tight Phones, we'll be right back!"

Rhyme trotted past them as they headed out of the park. The vending machines were close to the park entrance. Unfortunately, they were broken so Beat and Jo-san had to travel a bit further out. They found more vending machines on the corner of a nearby street. He was about to put some coins in when Jo-san stopped him. "Hey let's sit down for a bit."

The corner they were on was at the top of a set of stairs, winding down to a path lined with panels on one side and walls on the other. He didn't recognise this route. Shibuya was changing all the time and he swore that they were building new things everywhere. There were a bunch of colourful ads under the panels for the latest hot products and they probably changed often too. Jo-san ended up mid-way down before finally sitting on the steps. Beat remained standing.

"How come you brought your board with you?" Jo-san questioned.

"Oh, I dunno." Despite nearly forgetting it this morning, Beat hadn't even realised that he was holding it under his arm until it was pointed out just then. He shifted his stance so that his board was standing vertically against the ground, allowing him to lean a bit into it.

"Interesting friends you got there." Jo-san settled into a more comfortable position. "Didn't think ya had friends. I mean, other than me an' Nao."

"Didn't really know if you were my friend, Jo-san." Really, he didn't know if Jo-san considered him a friend. "But I owe you and Hoshi a lot and I respected you guys."

"That so?"

It really made him wonder how he never ran into them in the second week. Maybe he was too busy trying to save Rhyme and concentrating on just taking out Neku like Shades had asked for. But he didn't know what he would have done if Shades had asked him to attack Jo-san and Hoshi. Maybe he would have done it. He felt terrible for even thinking that but he really might have. He could only think of saving Rhyme.

"Didn't know you had a sister either. You never mentioned." With that timing, Beat had a brief thought that maybe Jo-san could scan him. Nah, of course not.

"Yeah, when I met you Jo-san, I wasn't really talkin' to Rhyme much." He averted his gaze from Jo-san to the reflective panels next to them.

"How come?"

"I mean, she didn't do anything. I was jus' angry at my folks and took it out on her. I know it's stupid."

"You got strict parents?" Jo-san asked.

"Yeah."

"Same here. I kinda guessed that before, though. You kinda remind me of me." Jo-san looked up. "When I was a kid I got into so many more fights than you if you can believe it. My parents hated it. But I only did it 'cause I didn't want to follow their 'path'."

Yeah, that sounded familiar.

"I'm working part-time jobs right now but three days a week I'm working doing the thing I love."

"What's that?" Beat asked, actually never having thought about what kind of work Sota would be doing.

"I want to be a barber. Ya know, do haircuts for a living. Bet you didn't expect that, huh?"

"Forreal?"

"Hell yeah. Nothin' better than seeing the smile on a customer's face when I save 'em from a bad hair day. My dream is to be the best barber out there."

Huh. What had Neku said earlier? _'I'm surprisingly not surprised.'_ That sounded about right for this too.

"That's cool, dude." Beat grinned. "You're like Rhyme. She's got a dream too."

"You don't?"

"Nah, not really. That's kinda why me and my parents fought. 'Cause they want me to 'focus' and have a 'goal' but I just...don't." He looked down at his skateboard. "I mean, I like boarding but it's not my 'dream'. Maybe I'll keep doin' it 'cause I'm good at it but it's not somethin' I _have_ to do."

"I mean, you don't have 'ta have a dream, Beat," Jo-san said. "You sound like you're feeling down because you don't have one. But it doesn't matter. You can take it at your own pace. A dream isn't everything."

_A dream isn't everything._

He needed to be reminded that.

"Thanks, Jo-san. You're a good friend."

"No problem, man. And like I said, you can call me Sota."

"Do you not like being called 'Jo-san'?" It didn't occur to Beat to ask. He had always just done it.

"I don't hate it, and I don't mind it from you but...it's the name I use for The Shirotora. Nao also only uses Hoshi when we're with Yamazaki and the others. So since we're friends, I want you to call us by our real names." His expression shifted from carefree to serious swiftly. "I'm glad you didn't join us Beat. You already know this but Nao's Yamazaki's cousin. And I'm actually only with The Shirotora because I wouldn't be able to date Nao if I wasn't. There's keepin' family safe and then there's bein' crazy overprotective."

Beat knew Sota wasn't talking about him but he felt that it could apply to him. He was glad he snapped out of it and ended up helping Neku in the third week. He was sure Rhyme wouldn't be proud of him if he continued as a Reaper.

"Then again, I dunno if I could talk. Being Yamazaki's cousin means Nao can get in a lotta danger. An' I'd do anything to keep Nao safe, even if I had to die to do it."

His hand slipped at that, as he recalled jumping to save Rhyme from the car...jumping in front of Neku to save him from a brainwashed-Shiki. His skateboard clattered down a few steps and Sota only just about caught it.

Beat really hoped that trying to save Nao wasn't the reason Sota and Nao died. That would be too similar to him...wouldn't it?

Catching the skateboard had forced Sota off his feet. "Oh, that poster reminds me! I do have one more dream, actually. And that's to marry Nao." He grinned. "But enough about that, we've been talkin' for a while. We were supposed to get drinks for your friends, right?"

He handed Beat his skateboard and announced he was heading back up to the vending machines first.

Beat took a look at the poster Sota was talking about. They had been standing near it the whole time but he had really clocked what was on it.

Oh, it was a poster of a plushie that Rhyme had mentioned wanting a while back.

He already got her the necklace but maybe he could get this for her next birthday.

"Is that supposed to be a cat or a dog? And it's called a - how the hell are you supposed to read this - _dori...dorimu...ita_? Dream Eater?"

What a weird name for a toy.

xxxxx

Not only did Sota and Beat come back late but they apparently got the drinks Neku and Shiki wanted mixed up. They were too thirsty to complain too much about it, luckily for Beat. He was happy to have the cool soda wash down his throat himself, he was tired out already. They skipped out on lunch so he was hungry too. Hopefully, they could grab something on the way back.

"Sota's on the phone," Rhyme said, voice hushed. Oh yeah, he was. "I think he's heading somewhere after work. The person told him to come without Nao."

"She's got good hearing," Beat said when Neku and Shiki asked how she knew that.

"Should we try and follow him, tomorrow?" Neku asked. "I think we've made friends but if this has to do with those Shirotora people I think he'd want us to stay out of it."

"If you and Beat do that, me and Rhyme could try talking to Nao," Shiki suggested, in between peeks at Sota's ongoing phone call. "Sota gave me her number earlier when I mentioned that I'd like to ask her where she got her clothes from."

"Okay, that sounds like a plan."

Sota finished with his call and walked back over to the group. Beat tossed Sota his unopened can of _Aquarius_.

"Think we're done for today, man," Beat said. "These guys can't skate no more."

"Haha, that's fine by me."

Dragging the more tired members of their party along, they went back to Cosmic Corner to return their skateboards. Sota was going in a different direction to the rest of them so he said his goodbyes for the day then.

"Was fun hangin' with you guys. We should do this again sometime." He patted the top of Rhyme's head, high-fived both Neku and Shiki and then held out a fist to Beat. "See you around."

Beat bumped his own against Sota's.

"Yeah, see you...Sota."

As Sota got lost in the crowds, Beat turned to the others.

"Hey, we're savin' him. Him and Nao."

They all nodded.

Beat may not have a dream but he had something else: the resolve to protect the ones that mattered.

* * *

 **A/N:** Tadaa!Here is the last chapter I made for Bang! Unfortunately, I, once again, have overestimated my time management skills and have not made it to the end of what I had planned to do for this Bang, sadly. However, I'm proud of what I did manage to finish so far and hope you enjoy! I'll definitely aim to write more super soon~

**\- Dina 09/10/20**


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